National News Briefs; Fugitive in 2 Killings Is Caught in Wilderness

Published: August 6, 1998

PEKIN, N.C., Aug. 5—
The man sought in the killing of two campers last weekend was captured tonight after a six-day search, the authorities said.

The man, James A. Finley Jr., 21, of Hickory, was arrested about 7:30 P.M. near a hunting lodge, Sheriff Jeff Jordan of Montgomery County said. Mr. Finley was armed with a rifle and a handgun when he was confronted by deputies on foot, the authorities said.

The police said Mr. Finley pointed one of the weapons at officers as they approached, prompting one officer to a fire a shot. No one was injured.

The campers, Derek Andrew Marston and Tommi Danielle Byrd, both 24, were found shot and slashed on Sunday at their campsite in Linville Gorge Wilderness Area in western North Carolina.

Mr. Finley was thought to be an admirer of the man charged in the Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, who has evaded a search in the western North Carolina mountains.